Running
by weirdkitten
Summary: This is a story of Mara a girl who wished to see the Goblin King but lost his laybrinth. It also tells a story of Sarah and Jareth after the movie ends. :)
1. The chase begins

**(Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth, Jareth Sarah or anything contained in the movie or other official related material. I do own Mara and her life.**

**Also this is my first fan fic ever :D if I have done something horribly wrong or incredibly right please tell me  )**

I ran as fast, and as hard, and as far as I could. I didn't stop to breathe; I didn't dare think what stopping would mean. I ran. I kept running. The man that was chasing me was to fast. A few times he nearly caught up to me but I suddenly darted to the side, in-between some trees and bushes. He followed but he wasn't as small as I was and sometimes got caught up in trees. His blond slightly spiky and longish hair shone like a beacon. I was surprised he could run at all in those tight pants of his. They looked like a mix between cotton and knit. He had a poet's shirt on and a strange sort of vest over it. It was tied tightly and it seemed to be made of leather. It had various strings hanging off. Obviously meant to be there. His eyes were painted in such a fashion as to make the surrounding area look much larger and point towards the sky; they were a whitish blue color. Adorable. This man was gorgeous, but he was evil. I had read of tales with this man. His name was Jareth. He was supposed to be fiction. His entire realm was supposed to be fiction, but here I was, running from him.

Earlier I had wished to meet him, in the story he was so charming, and handsome, and the evilness in his character only enhanced his attractiveness.  
But when I came face to face with reality it hurt. He gave me a challenge. 13 hours to defeat his labyrinth. Unfortunately I had failed, and miserably. I was completely lost in it and I couldn't figure a way out. In other stories the heroine had always found a way out, no matter how difficult it seemed to be. Though she had friends to help her along the way.  
That was actually true and she was, for a while, the queen. Though she did not love Jareth at first meeting. I wouldn't have either.

I continued running, but I knew I couldn't keep it up for long. I was already beginning to slow. My sides had stitches in them that seemed to be a mile long. My vision became blurry with tears and I could no longer breath.

Jareth was catching up to me, I looked behind to see just have far he had to go, and I tripped. I was sprawled out on a tree root. Jareth came over and towered above me. He was still very attractive, so impressive, but all his looks meant to me were hate. A representation of the evil that lurked within. I turned my head away waiting for some form of punishment. But all I heard was faint laughter and I turned back and saw his image disappearing. No this was the 2nd time he'd done it to me. Used some sort of phantom image to chase me, and torture me. He loved torturing me. Every other aspect of the stories was true, why couldn't the nice loving (though very hidden) side of him be shown.

I lay on the ground for a while more. I couldn't get up. I breathed more slowly, and then heard Jareth's voice, "Nice game" he chuckled but you cant escape me you know, you wanted me to bring you here, but you lost my game, and now you stay forever." he laughed some more and in an instant I was back in the castle, in my rooms. Nothing fancy, but it was comfortable (well as comfortable as a forced habitation could be). I'd lived here for I'm guessing 4 months now; it was so hard to keep track of time here. I wondered what my family would be thinking. What my parents would be doing right now, would they still be crying their eyes out for their missing daughter, one they couldn't find a trace of. Or would they simply have moved on, accepted the truth.

The thoughts of my family usually sent me into tears. But lately I had been crying less and less with each thought. And now no tears came at all.

I would have hated the thought that I was getting used to my torture, my forceful stay. But I was. I was getting used to living by myself, not talking to anyone. The Goblin King sometimes intruded on my solitude, but that was the torturous times. He would pull tricks like he did today. Sometimes he would simply stare at me like I was a piece of meet. He would stare with lust in his eyes, and for a few nights I would stay awake worrying that he would try something, but he never did. A few times he opened the door to my room, to make sure I stayed scared of him.  
But luckily after a few days I stopped being scared for the moment and went back into my lonely routine. Sometimes I would hang out with the goblin soldiers, and sometimes I would wander around the woods looking for a way to escape Jareth forever. I've never found a way. And somehow Jareth always finds me. No matter where I am, he shows up in a phantom from. I hate him. I hate him so much.


	2. Sarah

Jareth liked the girl, really he did. It was just that she reminded him so much of Sarah. She had the same black hair. She was fascinated by fantasy. She was so innocent. Their physical features were similar, but a full on face view and you could never confuse the two. It was also strange that the girl and Sarah's name were similar. Mara. Not a common name in either realm. Every time Jareth looked at Mara memories of Sarah came flooding back. Though this girl was meek, not a spitfire like Sarah was.  
How he loved Sarah. Still loved her. Though at first Sarah hated him. Hated him with a passion. During their second meeting (not by accident like their first) Sarah had seemed ready to kill him. She still blamed Jareth for taking her stop brother, Toby, in the first place.

* * *

Sarah stood in front of her mirror chatting to Hoggle. She liked to keep up with what was happening in the Underground, especially what was going on with her friends. She half knew and half thought that Jareth was the brutal man he appeared to be. (At least in her mind) She always wanted to make sure her friends were doing okay after helping her defeat the labyrinth. She knew how angry The Goblin King was with Hoggle and how he had treated Him during the time she was there. So she would check up on them. She was determined that they would not be hurt because of her. (Although she didn't know what she could do to stop Jareth if he ever did hurt her friends).

Each time she talked to her friends she made them promise her to tell if their seemingly ruthless king had done anything. And each time the friends made the promise and reassured her that nothing had happened and that nothing ever would.  
But this time Hoggle sounded a bit off. He wasn't himself. He was usually cheery creature when he wasn't afraid for his life (which after Sara beat the labyrinth, for some reason unknown to Hoggle and the other thankful goblins, was a lot more often). This time he seemed sad. Sarah couldn't place why, and she pressed Hoggle for and answer. All Hoggle did was avoid it or, mumble some answer sufficiently to not let Sarah understand, and quickly change the topic.

Finally Sarah came out with the question. "Hoggle, Is the king mistreating you!" Hoggle gasped and immediately shout out that it wasn't the king's fault. This was true but Sarah didn't believe him. This time she was so upset with that man. All she could think of for a moment was of hurting the Goblin King. She remembered how he had taken Toby (though she was the one to wish him away) She thought of how Jareth had been cruel to her friends during the time in the labyrinth. And this was it. She was convinced that the Goblin King had been hurting her friends the whole time. She didn't care if it was because of her she simply got angry and cried "Goblin King I wish you were here right now!"

Hoggle disappeared as soon as the words wish was uttered. He didn't want any part of this scene. The Goblin King was bad enough on his own.

Sarah waited a few moments, nothing happened. She got frustrated with the King. Every minute that passed, and he didn't show up, Sarah grew angrier. At first she was only going to shot at him, now she didn't know what she was going to do.

Finally, Sarah sighed and gave up, but she was determined to not let this go. She got ready for bed, anger fueling her. When she finally lay down she couldn't sleep. She tried for an hour and gave up. Sarah went down to the living room and turned on the TV Normally she would read a book, but she didn't want anything to do with the fantasy world at this moment. She went to sit on the couch but there was an object blocking her way. Or more precisely an evil Goblin King. A king with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

"I believe you called me," he half said half-laughed. His eyes full of merriment. He looked the same to Sarah as when she had beat his labyrinth tow years ago.

"You" she began barely refraining from jumping on the king and attempting to choke him to death. "I called you well over an hour ago" she continued, fury mounting in her eyes and voice. The Goblin King saw this and simply laughed some more. "Stop it" she caught her hands raising to hit the arrogant jerk. But Jareth, anticipating this move, grabbed her arms. She became unbalanced and fell forward in his lap. This caused Jareth to burst into full laughter as he watched her struggle up. He decided that he couldn't resist the chance. He kissed Sarah on the lips. She was, at first, shocked, reality gained a hold of her and she bit down on his bottom lip, jumped away from the injured king, and spun away from his pain and confused face.

Jareth touched his lip, not only did it hurt like mad, it was bleeding, though the teeth hadn't gone all the way through. Jareth's eyes lost all traces of mirth and clouded over with mild anger. After all he did get to kiss Sarah, what was a little pain for a chance to tease her. He stood behind a worried Sarah and grabbed her arms. He spun her back towards him. He pinned them to her side and looked her straight in the eyes. They were beautiful eyes. "Now, what was it that you called me for? Why did you wake me from my sleep? He asked continuing to stare into those lovely eyes.

Sarah was a bit afraid now. He seemed so much tamer living in her memories, but real life intruded and rational thoughts once again rule her actions. Though they ruled her thoughts she would not show fear. If you show a bully your afraid of them they have more power of you. She stared back into Jareth's mismatched eyes. They were enchanting. An envy of many humans. Finally she spoke "You were mistreating my friends. I know you are. I won't let you do that. If I could I would smack you right now" she rushed on not letting him speak. She stood for a moment more and began to struggle in his grasp. "I knew that you were evil the moment I set eyes on you" Sarah seethed with anger. With that was mixed fear, and pride for standing up to Jareth.

"Come Sarah" Jareth replied in a silky voice, seriousness in his eyes. "You know that I'm not evil" he made puppy dog eyes at her "You didn't even think so until I refused to cave into your babyish pleas." Jareth kept amusement out of his eyes in order to keep the moment alive.

"No" she replied lowering her eyes. "Well, maybe" she said retracting her previous words. "Not the entire time. Your nicer in the play" she teased

"And your nicer in my memories" she whispered.

"What was that?" Jareth asked happiness bubbling up.

"Nothing" replied Sarah not wanting Jareth to know she still thought of him. "I just said that you were nicer in the play. That's all"

"Uh hum" Jareth said knowingly he switched the subject forcing down a grin. "Now what was this about me mistreating your friends..." he raised an eyebrow at her. " I haven't touched your friends" he exclaimed.

"What do you mean you haven't touched them. I was talking to Hoggle and he was upset" Sarah dashed forward in her accusations. "He wouldn't admit it but I could tell. I could tell that it was your mistreatment that was making him sad. You were always so cruel to him while I was in the labyrinth" she spat angrily. There was a look of disbelief in The Goblin King's face.

"I really have no idea what you are talking about. I wouldn't touch hogsbreath."

"Hoggle" Sarah interrupted

"Yes, yes whatever his name is, I wouldn't touch him. He hasn't done anything wrong. And as for the time in the labyrinth, he was disobeying my orders."

Sarah looked confusedly at Jareth. He spoke with such sincerity that it was hard to disbelieve him, but then again she hadn't listened fully to Hoggle's account. Any remnant of the diatribe forming in her mind left.

"Do you believe me?" Jareth asked her, seeing confusion or at least indecision mark her face. He continued to watch her as she thought about his statement. "If you don't believe just my word" Jareth offered "Come with me to the underground. See Hoggle and your other friends for yourself. And as soon as you are satisfied with what you have seen or when ever you choose you can come back. I'll even reorder time for you to come back to this moment" he pleaded with her.

Sarah backed off for a moment. "Come, come Sarah" a hurt Jareth said. "I won't keep you against your will. I cant."

Sarah's resolve weekend. "Alright, I'll go, but I'll hurt you if you break your promise or I find my friends are hurt." Jareth smiled at her but hid the depth of his emotions. Though he never expected to see Sarah again he had made good use of this occasion. He took Sarah's arm in a gentleman like fashion, and transported them to the underground. For the second time Sarah found herself in the underground hopefully to rescue someone.


End file.
